Automatic stop device for automatic machines.



R. L. FOLZ & P. A. ZACE.

AUTOMATIC STOP DEVICE FOR AUTOMATIC MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 22, 1912.

"1,061,1 69, Patented May 6, 1913.

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/Vi nesTses UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT L. FOLZ AND PHIL]? A. ZACE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

AUTOMATIC STOP DEVICE FOR AUTOMATIC MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 6, 1913.

Application flied April 22, 1912. Serial No. 882,819. a

5 of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Imrovements in Automatic Stop Devices for utomatic Machines, of which thefollowing is a specification. 7

Our invention relates to improvements in automatic stop devices forautomatic machines, and in some of its features it refers morearticularly toautomatic stop mechanism or paper folding machines.

folder, equipped with accessories for the embodiment of our invention.Fig.'2is a detail in lon itudinal section of the eon tact parts, ig. 3is a transverse section showing the contact parts. Fig. 4 is a detail ofa link medium.

- In a aper folding machine the aper, usuallyfidblivered by an automaticfee er, is

frictionally fed forwardbyrapidly movin tapes 12, past the transverselyunobstructed space 13 into-which the folder blade 14 .works and passesbetween, suitable upper and lower; guide rods 15-15" (which are oftensupplemented by other moving tapes) until the 'paper strikes thegpgepoints 16 of the frontgage bar 17 wh is adjustable to define the properosition for what may be termed the front e go of the paper. The

.sideedge of the paper is then gripped by suitable gripper 18, operated,and timed in.

operation b a rock shaft or gripper rod 19, and the si e edge of thepaper is brought "to pro er position, Then the folder blade 14 ma es thecentral fold in the sheet of pa er and delivers it to the foldingrollers eow which pass the paper along for"it5.

g stop mechanism for the machine and acting,

further ro ress throu the machine.

The etai s of folding machine construction vary widely, but in generalevery such -machine involves a rapidly moving fric- For pur oses of fulldisclosure we will tional paper feedin to which the front ed e of the paer shou d be squarely presents and a roc shaft or equivalent part,actuating a gripper or the like and timed in its operation to actimmediately after the front edge of the paper has, or should have,reached its position of contact with the fingers or points 16 of thefront gage 17.

In operation it is, of course, desirable that the folding machine shouldhandle only perfect stock, and that mutilated sheets should bediscarded, and likewise it is highly immeans, a front gage portan't thatthe machine should be permitted to operate onl are properly presentegers or points of the front gage. Unless a paper sheet is of perfectcharacter it is not apt to be squarely presented to the front gage,because if the sheet is torn or otherupon sheets which wise imperfect,it is not apt to travel. un'iformly under the influence of thefrictional driving tapes, but on the contrary, owing to the unevenresistance of the imperfect sheet, it arrives at the front gage in adiagonal position. A sheet so improperly presented is apt to causedamage to the machine itself because, if the first fold made therein isnot properly taken none of the further operations of the machinecan besquarely to the fin-' properly made, and the torn, rumpled or pro ectingparts of the sheet are apt to catch some of the tapes and draw them intothe ad'acent folding rollers, or to clog up therol lers owing. to theirregular form of the folded sheet, or otherwise cause a dam a 'ngclogging of the machine. Such causes 0 en result, in practice, in tapebreakages, gear stripping, and other annoying and costly interruptionsof the work.

One of the salient features of our invention is the revision incombination with the parts of such a folder of an explorer locatedadjacent to the center of that portion ofthe front gage which is to beconfronted by the sheet to be folded, said explorerj operated by thetiming mechanism of the machine to perform its exploring function onlyat the time when a paper sheet should be, in the proper operation of themachine, siuarely presented to the front gage, said exp orer controllingappropriate only in the absence of aper from the center of the frontgage at t s time of its exploring operation, to occasion the stonm themachine. Since the explorer is set at approximately the center of thegage to which the paper sheet is to be presented, if a paper sheet getshifted diagonally, even to a comparatively slight extent in the .courseof its, frictionally impelled travel through the machine (as is almostinvariably the case either if the feeding devices are out of order or ifthe paper sheet is mutilated) the central. portion of the sheet will notlie in the path of movement of the explorer and so the explorer whenactuated will make a full excursion, uninterrupted by the paper sheet,and will cause the operation of the automatic stop mechanism so that theimproperly presented sheet may be above the upper plate to form abearing 0st upon which we mount the bell-crank ever24, preferably ofwood Orother insu lating material, having'its horizontal arm bifurcatedat its extremity to straddle a metallic cont-act stem 26 whichconstitutes a movable electric explorer. The stem 26 is made verticallyadjustable in the bifurcated arm of the lever 24 by -means of anadjust-' i-ng nut 28, and at its lower end said stem extends through aguide sleeve 29 mounted in the plate 20. Below the level on which thepaper travels the plate 21 is provided with a contact block 30 aliningwith the stem 26, the stem 26 and contact block 30 bein connected in anelectric circuit 31 whic includes a source of currentsupply 32 and anelectro-responsive device 33, the

the

armature 34 whereo constitutes the motor latch for a switch 35controlling 36 which drives the folder. vSuch arrange mentdiagrammatically shown will be under: stood to be represented merely astypical of a suitable electric stop mechanism-for the major machine. w v

through which passes a rod 40secured in the block 39 byaset screw 41.lthe OPPooperation of the major machine,

The movements of the bellrcrank lever 24:

are timed by connection of said lever with' any appropriately timed partof the major mac me so that the said lever makes its ex- 'cursions justafter the paper should, in the be p perly resented to the front guide.In the s cc 0 construction shown the gripper s aft 19 has adjustablymounted thereon a collar37"carry1ng a stem 33' to which -is pivotallyconnected a block or link 39 site end of the rod 40' makes pivotalconnection with the vertical arm of the bell crank lever 24 so that asthe shaft. 19 rocks for the purpose of causing the functional action ofthe gripper 18, it also, through the connection 40 rocks bell cranklever 24, to depress the horizontal arm thereof to the position shown indotted lines in Fig. 2. Suchdepression of the bell crank lever armreleases the explorer stem 26 which drops by gravity for a shortinterval of time and then is 11ft: ed again by the bell crank lever asthe rock shaft 19 resumes its normal position. If the paper sheet A hasbeen properly'fed and is presented squarely to the'front gage parts 16,then the interposition of the paper sheet between the explorer 26 andthe contact 30 acts to prevent the'closing of the electrical circuit31.- If, however, from any of fthe causes mentioned, orother causes thepaper sheet fails to be presented squarely to the".

gage, then theexplorer stem 26 makes'electrical contact with contact 30closing the circuit 31 and causing the-stoppage of the machine. Y

While we have herein described in some detail a particular embodimentof; curinvention particularly combined with a paper "folding machine, itwill be apparent that the invention; might be embodied with other formsof machines for automatic operation I on separately presented articlesand the details of' construction maybe varied to adapt the mechanism to,specifically 'difierent con'' ditions imposed by construction of themajor machine, within the spiritof our invention and within the? scopeof/the appended claims.

What we claim 1s:

' 1. The'combination of an automatic ma-- chine for operating uponsuccessively presented articles, comprising a gage towhich each articleshould-be" resented and a timmg part movable in efinite time-relation tothe presentation of said article, of an explorer mounted on said gagepart, means timed by said timing part of the machine to occasionmovement of said explorer to inters'ect a portion of the path of travelof said article and means responsive to uninter- "rupted movement ofai'd'explorer to stop the machine; a

2'. The combination of an automatic ma chine comprising a gage, meanstomove s'uc- I cessive articles to said gage,a'nd a working.

part timed intermittently to operate upon presentation of each articleto said gage, of an explorer mountedon said gage andamovable tointersect the path of said: article, op-

crating connections between said, explorer and said timedworking'partand means operable'by plorer to stop the fmachine. v

3. The combination with a machine for uninterrupted excursion ofth'eexhandling Se 'aratIf-papersheets, comprising frictionalpapeitfeedlmechanism, a gage 'to "which each sheetfof .paper should besquarely presented, and a part timed for operation while the paper sheetshould be in contact with the gage, of an explorer part mounted on saidgage approximately centrally of the gage, connections between saidexplorer and said timed part of the machine whereby the explorer movesthrough a path which may be interrupted by the central portion of thepaper sheet if said sheet be squarely presented to-the gage, and meansresponsive to uninterrupted movement of the explorer to stop themachine.

4. The combination with a machine for handling separate paper sheets,comprising frictional paper feeding mechanism, a age to which each sheetof paper shoul be squarely presented, and a part timed for operationwhile the paper sheet should be in contact with the gage, of aninsulating frame mounted on said gage, a movable explorer and astationary contact supported by said frame respectively above and belowa paper sheet, and connections between said explorer and timed part ofthe machine for intermittently moving said explorer toward thestationary contact.

5 The combination of an automatic machine comprising a ga e, means tomove successive articles to sai gage, and a working part timedintermittently to operate upon presentation of each article to saidgage, of means to stop the machine, an explorer movable across the pathof said artiel for control of said stopping means, and means so to movesaid explorer comprising a pivoted lever associated with the gage havingconnections respectively with the explorer and with the timed means ofthe machine, said connections including parts connected for lost motion,said explorer mounted on the gage to tend to move across the path ofsaid article under control of said lost-motion connections.

6. The combination of an automatic machine comprising a gage, means tomove successive articles to said gage, and a working part timedintermittently to operate upon presentation of each article to saidgage, of means to stop the machine, an explorer movable across the pathof said article for control of said stopping means, and means so to movesaid explorer comprising a bell-crank lever pivotally mounted upon saidgage, the horizontal arm of said lever having lost-motion connectionwith the gage and the vertical arm having connection with the timedmeans of the machine.

In testimony whereof we hereunto set our hands.

ROBERT L. FOLZ. PHILIP A. ZACE. In the presence of W. LINN ALLEN, MARYF. ALLEN.

